It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time for HOH to catch up with a Member of Congress through five fun questions. This week, Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) discusses his time in the doghouse and gives travel tips.

Q: You served as the mayor of Providence for eight years. What was the biggest transition from that job to Congress?

A: In the mayor’s office, you see immediately the impact that your work is having on families that live in your city. If someone says they want an after-school program, you can create one. If someone doesn’t feel safe, you can put a police beat in their neighborhood. In Congress, you’re drafting policy that ultimately does affect communities, but at a much more macro level.

Q: What’s the most unusual item in your office right now?

A: A book that some children gave me called “House Mouse, Senate Mouse,” which is a children’s book they gave me after I got elected.

Q: What was your first job?

A: Working cleaning kennels every day at a dog pound. Followed by my second job working as a busboy and a dishwasher.

Q: What’s one place, in the country or the world you’d like to visit but haven’t been yet?

A: I haven’t been to Alaska. And the reason I’d like to visit is it’s the one place my grandmother said she regretted she never went to in her lifetime, and I promised her I would visit it before I died.

Q: What’s one spot in Rhode Island an out-of-towner can’t miss?

A: Newport is a really beautiful city in my district. Also, “WaterFire” in Providence, which was named one of 10 must-see things by National Geographic. It’s an art installation of 100 fires on the river.